Close Enough
by kuro.no.nukenin
Summary: Team Hebi threeshot. No pairings. With his newly-acquired team, Sasuke begins his quest for revenge on his brother. Unfortunately, it seems that an elemental force is determined to slow him down...
1. Day 1

Disclaimer: I own no part of the Naruto franchise.

CLOSE ENOUGH

Day 1

Team Hebi was suffering.

Their journey from the northern base should not have been hard. They were all more than capable of maintaining the pace Sasuke held them to. Even Suigetsu, for all his complaining, should have had no trouble keeping up. Sasuke usually ignored his companion's rantings, having quickly deduced that the water user just liked to hear himself talk. Not unlike another shinobi infamous for his inability to _shut the hell up._

This time, though, Sasuke almost, _almost _wanted to agree with him. The simple fact was that it was Just. Too. Damn. Hot.

The heat wave that had been building when Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin arrived at the hideout had crested, and the sweltering air was taking a toll on them all. Juugo was literally dripping with sweat, leaving a visible trail of droplets whenever he crossed a patch of bare earth. Karin had pulled her hair up into a ponytail to get it off her sweaty neck, but her shirt was still soaked through with perspiration. Suigetsu sucked constantly away at his water bottle, whining that he was literally boiling.

"I'm going to evaporate!" he wailed.

"I wish you would!" retorted Karin.

Sasuke would have believed it possible if the air were not so humid that it was like being underwater anyway. The white-hot sun was beating down on his head like a giant hammer, leaving him stranded somewhere in the very uncomfortable Land of Headaches, well on his way to the Village Hidden In Migraines. His own multi-layered clothing was stiflingly plastered to his skin, and ticklish rivulets of sweat raced down his back and pooled above his belt in the most irritating manner imaginable.

Sasuke was so miserable, in fact, that he actually considered calling a halt, at least for the hottest part of the day. But, no, there was no time for that. He had waited too long for this already. He hated hot weather, humidity, and bright sunlight each more than the others, but he hated Itachi more than all of them combined. It was this hatred that drove him to push through his own discomfort (and everyone else's, for that matter) until the sun finally began to set, huge and red on the horizon. Now the air was merely inhumanly hot and unbearably humid, instead of all that _and_ blindingly bright.

"Sasuke, can we _please _find an inn or something?" begged Suigetsu as the entered the outskirts of a small resort village. "We're dead on our feet, man!"

Sasuke grunted his assent, partially because his headache was starting to make him dizzy and he was seeing spots in the waning light. They located a relatively inexpensive inn, rented a set of rooms, and settled in for the night. No one even mentioned food; they were all so overheated they weren't even hungry. Karin quickly claimed the bathroom, and Suigetsu disappeared somewhere, babbling something about swimming. Sasuke roamed the halls until he located a drinking fountain, where he drank until he thought his stomach might explode. The water stung as it splashed over his lips, but the inner coolness it brought was well worth it. Feeling heavy from all the water he had just drunk, he slowly made his way back up to the rooms. Juugo was now in the bathroom, and Karin, clad (more or less) in a very loosely tied yukata, was toweling her hair.

"Poor Sasuke-kun," she simpered. "You look exhausted! You know, I know a couple of 'relaxation techniques' that will definitely help you, especially since it's just the two of us…" she batted her eyelashes suggestively.

"Where's Suigetsu?" he demanded, eager to change the subject.

Karin's flirtatious attitude collapsed on itself. "How should I know?" she groused, pouting.

"Go find him," Sasuke commanded. Anything to get her away from him.

"Like this?" Karin gasped, looking fallaciously scandalized as she gestured to her state of undress. "Oh, Sasuke-kun…"

"Fine. I'll find him."

Ignoring Karin's crestfallen expression, he strode towards the door, which flew open just in time to smack him in the face. His skin burned as though it had been raked across hot sandpaper, and he cringed, which somehow caused the feeling to spread.

"Oh, wow, I'm sorry, man!" cried a thoroughly revived, dripping wet Suigetsu. "I had no idea you were standing there. Did I break your nose or something?"

Sasuke forced his stinging face into a stony glare and raised his watering eyes to the intruder. "_No,_" he said angrily, and stalked off to gather things for his own bath.

"Sorry," Suigetsu said again. "But how was I supposed to know you were standing there? I'm not the sensory type here! That's her. Yeah, Karin, it's your fault! You should have sensed my chakra and warned your precious Sasuke-kun not to stand in front of the door!"

Sasuke tuned out the resulting argument to listen attentively to the sounds coming from the bathroom. Kami-sama, he hoped Juugo was done soon. It sounded like the water had stopped, anyway…

A few minutes later, the giant emerged from the bathroom and gestured to the open door. Sasuke strode in, pursued by Karin's shrieks. "Sasuke-kun! Suigetsu's getting water _everwhere!_ Make him –"

Sasuke shut and locked the bathroom door, effectively muffling the sound, and smirked to himself.

Then frowned. His face felt tight, sore, and tingly. He figured he was probably still dehydrated, and hastened to strip off his sweaty clothes and step under the cool waterfall of the shower. After having been so hot for so long, the cold water felt so good it actually hurt. After he had finished washing, he pulled his clothes in and washed them under the spray, for the dual purpose of getting them clean and enjoying the coolness a little longer. When he felt sufficiently chilled, he shut off the water and climbed out of the shower, drying himself as he went. He bit his lip in surprise as the towel dragged roughly across his chest. Waves of tingling pain radiated across the skin, causing his muscles to clench slightly. Concerned, he looked down at himself. A broad triangle of flesh across his front was a glowing pinkish-red, with an odd pitted texture, like very fine goosebumps. Experimentally, he touched the affected area with his finger. It was hot to the touch, and while a circle of white flesh formed like a fingerprint where he had touched, when he pulled his finger away, the redness came swarming back. He frowned. Maybe he should have the rash looked at…or not. Karin would be utterly unmanageable. Besides, it was probably just from sweating too much for too long or something. Surely it would disappear with a good night's sleep.

He slipped into his yukata, toweled his hair, and gathered up his wet clothes to hang on the balcony railing. Hopefully, it was not so humid that they would not dry overnight.

Suigetsu was preparing for another bath, and glanced up as Sasuke stepped in off the veranda. His white eyebrows quirked. "Eh, Sasuke, are you all right? You're, like, red. Really, really red."

Looking concerned, Juugo made his way over. "You do look red," he said worriedly. Hesitating, he reached his enormous hand to brush Sasuke's forehead. Sasuke winced at the pain of the contact, and then winced at the pain caused by wincing.

"You feel hot," Juugo said. "I think you have a fever."

Karin was watching from across the room. _Stay there_, Sasuke prayed silently, but of course it was not to be. "Ooh, let me see, maybe I can help!" she exclaimed, flying across the room to 'help.'

_Ugh. Go away._

She looked him up and down.

"Take that off," she said, gesturing to his yukata.

Sasuke gave her a look that demonstrated clearly what he thought of that idea. "_No._"

Karin sighed and rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on, Sasuke. Just the top part."

"_NO."_

She huffed again. "Sasuke, this is me being a medic right now. I have an idea, and I just need to look you over to see if I'm right."

"_Hn!"_

"Come on! I won't even look at you, I promise! I'll close my eyes!"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, a move he paid for dearly with more pain and tingling. "If you're not going to look, then what's the point of taking it off?"

The redhead slapped her forehead. "Sasuke, just let me see, okay? Just for a minute. If it's what I think it is, I might be able to make it better, at least a little."

Sasuke searched the faces of his teammates, focusing especially on Karin. She at least looked serious.

"_Fine,_" he grumbled. Carefully, he sat down on his futon and very gingerly slipped the upper portion of the yukata off his shoulders, staring furiously into his lap.

There was a moment of silence before Suigetsu burst out laughing. "Whoo, man! Sasuke, do you ever look funny!"

Karin sighed. "You have a sunburn," she explained. "When people, especially people with light skin, are out in the sun for long periods of time, any skin that's not covered by something can get burned by the sun. It's just like you would get burned from touching hot metal, only it happens a lot slower because the sun's far away, and you don't notice it happening until it's too late. It's even worse if your skin's not used to being in the sun a lot – like, say, if you've spent a lot of time underground in the last few years," she added, smiling wryly. "You can get different degrees of sunburn. It's not as bad if you get only a little too much sun, but you, Sasuke, are _cooked._"

Scowling, he pulled his yukata back into place, feeling the skin fold painfully around his neck. "You said you could fix it."

"I can help it, but I can't heal it entirely. We'll have to put," she rummaged in her pack, "some of _this_ on you." She held up a tube of gooey-looking green gel. Her expression turned suggestive again. "If you'll just take your top off again, I can do it for you. Suigetsu!" her tone turned sharp as she addressed the water user. "Weren't you going to take another bath or something? And Juugo," she said a little more kindly. "Umm… why don't you go get some ice. Or something."

Sasuke snatched the tube from her. "I don't need help," he said firmly. "Suigetsu. Wait."

He strode into the bathroom, tore off the yukata, which was noticeably confining the radiating heat against his burnt, tender skin, and slathered on the sticky green goop. It was very messy stuff, but he had to admit it felt heavenly on that sunburn. It created a wonderful cooling sensation that faded away all too soon. He slapped on a second layer and generously applied some to his face and neck, which were also burnt. The stuff dried disgustingly shiny and a bit sticky, but he didn't care. Maybe if he looked a little weird, it would even get Karin to leave him alone for thirty seconds. He pulled the yukata on once again and exited the bathroom to discover that poor Juugo had taken Karin seriously and fetched a bucket of ice for which they had no immediate use. Disgusted with the whole situation, Sasuke flopped down on his futon without saying a word and shut his eyes.

_To be continued..._


	2. Day 2

Disclaimer: I own no part of the Naruto franchise.

Day 2

Hours later, while everyone else was already long since asleep, Sasuke squirmed on his futon, trying to get comfortable. The room, while much cooler than outside had been, was still too warm for comfort, and sweat was prickling at the back of his neck. He had ended up using Juugo's ice after all, rolling some of it up in a washcloth to place over his eyes and forehead, but that bit of coolness only seemed to call attention to how hot the rest of him was.

And his sunburn hurt. He could feel waves of heat radiating off it into the air. It tingled, burned, ached, and itched. He vaguely remembered something like this, now, from his very first overnight mission to the Land of Waves. He'd gotten a sunburn on his arms, legs, and face then, too, although he didn't remember it being as bad as this one. He didn't like remembering that time at all, anyway, so he strove to put it out of his mind and go to sleep. At some point, he must have succeeded, because an abrupt noseful of water brought him to the disconcerting conclusion that he was drowning. He sputtered and flailed and tried to open his eyes, but he was blind… no, he was merely wearing a soggy blindfold, which meant someone was intentionally drowning him… finally, a familiar shriek of "SUIGETSU!" startled him into full wakefulness. He tore the blindfold, which turned out to be his washcloth from the night before, off his face and rolled to his feet to glare viciously at his three teammates.

"He did it!" screeched Karin immediately, backing away and jerking a finger at Suigetsu. Her eyes were round and wide and frightened, but also gleamed with a disturbingly hungry light. Drooling over his chakra again, no doubt. Sasuke turned his furious gaze on the person beside her. Suigetsu was indeed guiltily clinging to the ice bucket, the contents of which were now dripping from Sasuke's hair and running down his face and neck.

"What. The. _Hell,_" he ground through gritted teeth.

"You shouldn't have done that, Suigetsu. I think he's going to kill you," said Juugo concernedly, peering over the shorter boy's shoulder.

Suigetsu dropped the ice bucket to raise his hands defensively. "Sorry, man, but you wouldn't wake up!" he cried. "We've all been shouting at you for like ten minutes! You were totally asleep! And I thought you wanted to leave by now, and we tried everything else, so it was kind of a last resort, you know?"

Sasuke processed this, glancing at the already-scorching sun coming in through the window, and back at his teammates. It _was_ later than he had intended to set out, and the others were all dressed and clearly had been waiting.

"Hn!" He announced and stalked out onto the balcony to fetch his clothes – which _were _still damp, damn it – then ducked into the bathroom to change. He ran his towel over his face and hair, cursing the heat and the sun his stupid sunburn and just about everything.

Ten minutes later, they had checked out of the inn and set off traveling again. The day promised to be just as hot as its predecessor. Sasuke hoped the burning sun might at least have the common decency to dry his damp clothes, but of course it was much too humid for that. Instead, he was treated to an effect not unlike being inside his own personal sauna, which accelerated his sweating and soaked his clothes all over again _and irritated his damn sunburn. _He could feel the sun's warm rays frying his already-burnt skin all over again, and there was nothing he could do about it. He certainly couldn't afford to stop and waste any more time. They were far enough behind as it was, and with the Akatsuki constantly on the move, there was no telling when he would get another chance to settle things with Itachi, once and for all. And before that, they would have to stop at the old Uchiha storehouse and pick up some supplies. Juugo in particular was in need of some real clothes, and preferably shoes as well.

So on they went, toiling along through the entirety of another white-hot, sweltering day; and in the bathroom of another inn that night, Sasuke chewed blood from his lip trying not to cry out in pain as the icy droplets of the shower hit his thoroughly roasted skin. Even the gooey green gel could not soothe the burning. The cooling effect that had been so pleasant the night before now felt more like fire racing across his chest, face and neck.

Gingerly, he stepped out of the bathroom, careful to keep his upper body as motionless as possible. Any movement seemed to stretch his too-tight skin to the splitting point.

"Damn," observed Suigetsu eloquently.

Karin took one look at his flaming face and gasped. "Oh, Sasuke-kun! You're burnt to a crisp!"

Slowly, _s-l-o-w-l-y _Sasuke lowered himself onto his futon, vaguely hearing Karin send Juugo off to find ice again. Clutching his tube of green goop, he stared up at the ceiling and decided right then and there that he was not moving again for the rest of the night.

No, not even if Karin hovered over him the whole night, like she was at the moment. He locked eyes with her and hoped he had temporarily received the power of telepathy. _Touch me and you die. _He hoped she got the message.

"Uhmm, Sasuke-kun?" she said nervously. "Your eyes…?"

_Oh._

He forced himself to relax as much as possible and blinked, letting his Sharingan fade.

Karin sat back on her heels, putting a more comfortable distance between herself and Sasuke. "Where the hell is Juugo with that ice?" she muttered to herself. "Sasuke, we'll have to stay here tomorrow. You can't go back out in the sun like this."

He controlled the wave of anger that rolled through him at the thought of more delay before answering her. "No," he replied dully. "We've wasted enough time as it is."

"But Sasuke-kun! If you keep going out in the sun all day, this sunburn will only keep getting worse! You'll have no skin left! And your skin is so…" she trailed off, blushing and starry-eyed. Sasuke maturely suppressed the urge to make gagging noises.

"We have no time to waste," he said simply. "If we lie around resting, our goal will evade us."

"But –" Karin's protests were cut short by the arrival of Juugo with two buckets of ice.

"Is this enough?" he asked. "I can get more."

"We'll see," said Karin, busying herself with the task of burying Sasuke in ice. She put the sheet over him to make sure it wouldn't freeze his skin, and then piled the ice on his chest. She also made him another washcloth ice pack to put over his face. Lying there with his eyes closed, the light blocked, and delicious coolness seeping through his body, Sasuke was almost comfortable in spite of the pain. It wasn't long before he slipped into a doze, and though he woke up a little when Karin and Suigetsu started arguing about something, he fell asleep again quickly.

_To be concluded..._


	3. Day 3

Disclaimer: I own no part of the Naruto franchise.

Day 3

When Sasuke woke up, it was early, which was exactly how he wanted it. He disentangled himself from his sheets, clammy and damp from the melted ice, and sat up carefully. His sunburn was still tight and painful, his skin still red enough to practically glow in the dim light. He glowered at it, as if that might make it go away, and crept quietly to the window, taking care not to wake the others. Frustration bubbled in his gut. The sun was barely peeking over the horizon, and the young day was already at least as hot as the previous two.

Since that was the case, they might as well get an early start. He woke Juugo first, and told him to wake the other two while he got dressed and ready to travel. Karin grumbled under her breath about being awakened, but she was quick to demand that Suigetsu shut up when he began wailing that it was too_ early._ Sasuke just moved far enough away that he wouldn't get splashed when Karin punched the whiner.

They had just left the inn when Karin suddenly woke up enough to realize what was going on.

"Sasuke!" she cried. "We can't do this! I was serious when I said you shouldn't be anywhere near the sun today! You _can't_ let yourself get burned again!"

Sasuke ignored her and kept walking. He refused to let his lifelong quest be derailed by the weather, of all things! He could just imagine his brother's mocking voice: _Oh, so y__ou failed to find me because the sun was out? Do you still not hate me enough, little brother? _

Something clutched at his elbow. "Sasuke, wait!"

_Damn it, Karin! _Without breaking stride, he calmly but effectively removed her hands from his arm.

She grabbed him again. Taking a deep breath, he turned and faced her. "Karin. This is my arm. That is yours," he said, indicating them with a slight nod. "Do not get the two confused."

"No, listen for a minute!" she insisted. "If you won't stay out of the sun, at least find some other way to keep it off your skin. If you cover up, you at least won't get burnt any worse."

"What's he going to cover up in?" asked Suigetsu. "In case you haven't noticed, none of us has a closet full of spare clothes handy."

"I could switch with him," Juugo suggested.

"As if you'd fit into his shirt," sneered Karin. Juugo looked crestfallen.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "What did you have in mind, then?"

Karin went a bit red. "Wear your shirt backwards," she said, trying to suppress a smirk. "It covers your whole back. If you turn it around, it will cover up the front and protect you from the sun."

Sasuke considered this. It could be worth a try… "Wait here," he commanded. Searching quickly, he located a public restroom and ducked inside. No need to attract any undue attention by stripping his shirt off in the middle of the street.

It proved a bit more difficult than he had anticipated to pull the garment into place backwards, but once he managed it… he looked ridiculous. It was also uncomfortable, but he _was _shielded from the sun, and in the scheme of things, he could handle a little physical discomfort. It was certainly less uncomfortable than a third layer of sunburn would be.

Suigetsu didn't even try to hide his mirth as Sasuke appeared back among them in his new attire.

"That thing looks even dumber than before!" he crowed. "Why do you wear such a useless thing, anyway? You seem like a practical kind of guy. I wouldn't think you would be so interested in showing off your chest… especially with girls like Karin around."

"It has a practical purpose," Sasuke assured him, picturing the wings that burst from his shoulders in his Cursed Seal form. He still couldn't believe how many shirts he'd ruined before Kabuto had approached him with that solution. As for Karin, she would just have to…

"Speaking of Karin, where is she?" he asked.

"Here!" she shouted from behind him, plopping something on his head.

Sasuke snatched it off quickly and stared at the object in his hands. He _almost_ let his jaw drop in disbelief.

It was a hat.

A _woman's _hat. Bright white, with a broad, floppy, scalloped brim, printed with fluorescent orange roses and lime green leaves.

It was one of the ugliest objects Sasuke thought he had ever seen, which meant something coming from a person who'd spent three years under the tutelage of Orochimaru.

Suigetsu was in stitches. "Holy crap, Karin! Where the hell did you get _that?_" he managed.

She scowled. "I _borrowed_ it."

Juugo suddenly looked dismayed. "You stole it," he accused. "You shouldn't have done that. It's not right – somebody might have needed it…"

"Yeah," she interrupted. "Sasuke needs it, to keep the sun from burning his pretty face right off his head. I had to find him a hat, so I swiped the first one I saw. Sorry, Sasuke-kun."

Juugo accepted this, though still looking vaguely disquieted. Sasuke stared distastefully at the hat. He was inclined to agree with Juugo about the stealing, but Karin was right about keeping the sun off him. That, and stealing this particular hat had probably actually been a service to the previous owner.

"But he's not actually going to wear that awful thing!" cried Suigetsu. "I mean, look at it! Who would even make something that ugly on purpose?" A devilish light gleamed in his eyes. "That's it! It wasn't on purpose, was it?" He turned to Karin. "It's the unexpected result of one of your nasty experiments, isn't it? That's where she really got it!" He roared with laughter at his own joke. Karin looked murderous.

Sasuke hid his exasperation by turning away and looking at the sky. The sun was rising rapidly; they were already losing time. "All right, that's enough," he declared. Taking a deep breath, he jammed the hideous hat on his head and started walking.

Suigetsu stared. "You're - !"

Karin smirked at him, and she and Juugo took off following Sasuke.

"Oh, man, that is it!" Suigetsu cried, hurrying to catch up. "I am done with this! I am _not_ following around after someone dressed up like that! You got me? I'm _not!_"

"Yeah? If you're not following him, then why are you still so _here_?" asked Karin.

"Because now I'm following you!"

"Oh, so you recognize me as your superior?" Karin said haughtily.

"Nah, I've just made it my new goal in life to annoy you as much as possible!"

_Oh, hello again, headache. I have not missed you. _Even though they had not quite cleared the village yet, Sasuke started running.

That night, as the sun was setting, they found themselves far from another village, so they found a stream and set up camp beside it. Sasuke was glad to be able to abandon the horrid hat and wear his shirt in the proper way again. Both had been quite uncomfortable, the hat trapping sweat close to his head, in his hair, and the shirt rubbing his sunburned flesh in an extremely irritating manner. He did have to admit, however, that they had served their purpose in preventing further sunburn. He was reasonably content as he selected a place to sleep.

It was only when he finally lay down that he realized the glaring flaw in the 'wearing-the-shirt-backwards' method. He cursed to himself as his back burst into flames, and pulled out the tube of green gel.

He couldn't reach all the way.

_Karin would be more than happy to help_, taunted an evil little voice in the back of his head. He let himself grimace in the darkness and decided to look for Juugo instead.

"I'm sorry," said the larger man as he rubbed the gel over Sasuke's burns. "I can't believe none of us noticed and thought of that."

_Neither can I,_ Sasuke thought to himself. He went back to his place and tried to lie down and get comfortable, but it wasn't so easy now that he was thoroughly toasted on both sides. He could no longer lie on his burned back, nor on his front, of course. But lying on either side compressed and stretched his skin in an unbelievable variety of very painful ways.

After squirming about painfully for quite some time, he was suddenly struck with a thought – an idea so brilliant, he couldn't believe it hadn't occurred to him before. He leapt to his feet.

"Everyone. Get up."

His teammates shifted around him, moaning sleepily. "Wha?" yawned Karin, squinting in the moonlight without her glasses.

"Get up. We're going now. Juugo, Suigetsu. Wake up."

"Sasuke, what the hell. It's the middle of the night," groaned Suigetsu.

"Yes."

"Are you crazy?" the Mist nin demanded. "You can't make us run all day and all night, too!"

"We'll stop when the sun comes up," said Sasuke. "We'll travel now, when it's cooler, and rest during the heat of the day."

"It does make sense," agreed Juugo, who was already wide awake. "It will be easier on all of us that way, and it will keep Sasuke out of the sun."

"Fine, fine," grumbled Suigetsu, "but you owe me a night's sleep!"

They set off once again, Karin berating Suigetsu for almost stepping on her glasses.

"Yeah, I know, I missed!" he shouted cheerfully. "I was aiming for your head!"

Sasuke exhaled in relative satisfaction. They were moving toward his goal, (without the company of the awful hat, which he had 'accidentally' managed to leave behind in the darkness) and they were doing it without getting fried alive. He was content. Mostly. His shirt was now trapping the heat radiating off his sunburned back, and it was annoying.

Well, it was dark, anyway. The sun wouldn't burn him, and nobody would see, so... He shrugged out of the shirt, letting it flop around his waist, and kept running.

Then he heard Karin murmuring behind him. She had definitely noticed. "Ooh, Sasuke shirtless is so… now how to get rid of those other two… shouldn't be hard, since it's dark… have him all to myself..."

Sasuke smirked as yet another brilliant plan occurred to him. "Karin," he commanded. "Take the forward position and scout ahead. I'll bring up the rear."

His smirk deepened as her quiet groan of despair dopplered past him on her way to the front.

It wasn't perfect, of course. It never could be, while _He_ lived. But for now, he supposed, it was close enough.

END


End file.
